EAST WHITTIER – Rick Runa had been patiently waiting for years, hoping that installing solar panels on his home would one day be financially feasible. Now he can’t wait to see his bill.

“I know everybody says it’s the `green thing’ to do, but not for me. I’ve just always found it fascinating,” he said, a little exhausted from mowing the lawn. “I’ve always wanted to do it. And now that I have them installed, I’m looking forward to this month’s bill.”

Runa, a resident of unincorporated East Whittier, last week joined the growing number of Angelenos who have taken advantage of government and utility rebates for installing solar panels.

Runa’s panels will offset 80 percent of his monthly usage, he said. According to readings on the inverter, which gives you a running total of the kilowatts put back into the grid by the panels, they had already offset 260 kilowatts.

“Our usage is about 600 kilowatts a month, so even though I have to wait to see the bill, I’m pretty happy already,” Runa added.

Los Angeles County has seen such an influx of solar use in the past year that the utility companies have begun to reduce the rebate programs, said Jeremy Kanning, a solar contractor with JK Solar in Victorville.

“Even though the rebates are dropping, people are still interested as energy prices keep going up,” said Kanning, who installed the panels at Runa’s home and a number of other places in the Whittier area. “The fact that in five to seven years you will break even, makes solar a solid investment.”

Southern California Edison and the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power have begun to scale back rebates as they exceed goals, Kanning said. The companies combine to cover the majority of Los Angeles County.

Edison’s program is tiered and dependent on the number of kilowatts it gets back from solar power. The rebates are part of the California Solar Initiative and vary according to system size, customer class, performance and installation factors. The incentives decline in “steps” based on the volume of megawatts of confirmed incentive reservations issued in Edison’s service area.

The DWP rebates are paid up front by calculating an expected 20-year kilowatt-hour production and then multiplying that by a price-per-kwh rate.

The DWP had budgeted $30 million annually for residential solar rebates but saw 2010 applications exceed $70 million. The program had more than 1,500 applications as of last month, when the utility announced it would reduce its rebate program.

Kanning said that throughout California, demand has steadily increased since the rebate programs began. The state set a goal of having 20 percent of power covered by solar panels and is now at less than five percent, he said.

Although it only takes about a day to install the panels, there are a number of hurdles homeowners must jump first, Runa said.

Every city and county has different requirements to meet before giving a permit. In Runa’s case, the county took more than a month and several changes before he finally connected to the gird.

“It was a pretty long process once I got the panels,” he said. “But I like it. My wife always thought it was a fad or something. Now she kind of enjoys going out on weekends checking the meter. So she’s kind of gotten into it, too.